As the world’s largest military spender per capita, Saudi Arabia is also examining ways to balance the books by maintaining the balance of power in the Middle East. At the same time, it is examining ways to balance its books by ensuring that a growing percentage of spending is on hardware locally produced within the Kingdom. Vision 2030 aims...
Agreements made with international manufacturers of military hardware could result in thousands of skilled jobs for Saudi citizens and substantial investment in the Kingdom. The deals comprise the first steps of a plan to create a domestic defence industry capable of supplying more than half of its annual demand for advanced weapons systems,...
When Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman laid out Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 in April 2016, he proposed reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues by modernising the economy and creating a more moderate society. While the full economic impact of the plan will take a few years to be felt in the country, a series of bold moves to loosen...
The number of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) operating in the GCC has grown significantly in the last decade. The value of these SWFs – created to invest and manage the huge sums flowing into the region from hydrocarbons sales – stood at $2.9trn in March 2017, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute (SWFI), reflecting 38.5% of the...
Home to an estimated 15.7% of the world’s proven oil reserves and the single largest economy in MENA, Saudi Arabia is a key player not only in the region, but also globally. Since its establishment in September 1932, the Kingdom has poured its considerable resources into a series of large-scale economic development, diversification and...
For the nations of the GCC, the drop in oil prices highlighted something many already knew: there is a pressing need for economic diversification and to further engage with global partners across different markets. To this end, countries in the region have made efforts to expand their international role and reach in recent years, with trade...
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